Test reports to non-ranorex users, how?

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boegvald
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Test reports to non-ranorex users, how?

Post by boegvald » Wed Sep 18, 2019 2:50 pm

I want to be able to send test reports to people not using Ranorex, and to grant them access to view test reports available in other systems (like Jenkins and potentially Jira).

- But these users can't view rxzlog files because they do not have the RanorexReportViewer
- It is very impractical to distribute html reports with it's dependencies on other files, which all have to be downloaded before viewing.

I have read in another post, that the RenorexReportViewer (together with some additional files) can be distributed to the relevant people, who will have to store them, and manually setup Windows to use the viewer to open rxzlog files. Is that really the way to go? Wouldn't it be an easy one for the Ranorex team to make a small installer?

Any other ideas or experiences?

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Bo
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Bo

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odklizec
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Re: Test reports to non-ranorex users, how?

Post by odklizec » Wed Sep 18, 2019 3:04 pm

Hi,

I'm personally distributing zipped list of report viewer files files, which can be extracted anywhere on user's HDD and started from there. No setup is required. As of now, ReportViewer requires these files:
Ranorex.Bootstrapper.dll
Ranorex.Common.dll
Ranorex.Common.Net35.dll
Ranorex.Contracts.dll
Ranorex.Controls.dll
Ranorex.Core.dll
Ranorex.Core.Injection.dll
Ranorex.Core.Resolver.dll
Ranorex.Core.xml
Ranorex.Libs.Base.dll
Ranorex.Libs.dll
Ranorex.Libs.Util.dll
Ranorex.ReportViewer.exe
Aside of extracted report viewer and HTML-based report, the only other solution is converting report to PDF file. But i found it pretty impractical and "heavy" in case of big reports ;)
Pavel Kudrys
Ranorex explorer at Descartes Systems

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boegvald
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Re: Test reports to non-ranorex users, how?

Post by boegvald » Wed Sep 18, 2019 3:28 pm

I find the zipping solution somewhat cumbersome in my situation. The reports are already available freely in Jenkins (and soon in Jira), but no one can open them! So having me to download them, zip them, mail/post them, users to download, unzip just feels like a long way to go for very little.

It is strange that Ranorex do not distribute a stand alone viewer... It should be in their interest that the reports generated by Ranorex are used as widely and easily as possible. I'll put up a request for such an installer.

That was quite a list of files needed to use the report viewer! I wish the HTML files could be bundled in a single file instead. I guess , then, that the users will have to install also the same C++/Visual Studio/etc libraries as is required for running Ranorex Studio? Will it trigger a license request as well? Gosh,... short story getting long :-)

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Bo
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Bo

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Stub
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Re: Test reports to non-ranorex users, how?

Post by Stub » Thu Sep 19, 2019 8:37 am

Must admit I wouldn't mind a handy mechanism for this as well. Here, in our circumstances, most of our folks can't be bothered to install Ranorex, even though it'd be a useful tool for them to have more readily available - again, in our circumstances, I know yours will be very different. So I started sending PDF reports alongside the Ranorex reports in case they want to look in a bit of detail but don't want to touch Ranorex. This was my own workaround. though like Pavel I did consider packaging up just the report viewer. In the end I decided if they couldn't be bothered installing Ranorex they probably wouldn't bother going and finding an archive containing just the viewer, or unpacking and renaming the files in the .rxzlog archive. So, PDFs. I doubt anybody here looks at those either however!

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Re: Test reports to non-ranorex users, how?

Post by odklizec » Thu Sep 19, 2019 9:29 am

Hi,

I agree, that current distribution of Rx reports is far from perfect. Compressed report is not easy enough to open for non-technical people and requires either installation of report viewer or extract compressed report to plain report and manual conversion to HMTL. And PDF is definitely not good for large reports.

I think the best solution would be converting HTML report to CHM (compiled HTML help) file, which is directly supported by OS. Sadly, this option would require some extra apps and additional posts-test steps and maybe even manual effort. And I'm not quite sure if current Ranorex report format (even if converted to HMTL) is compatible with CHM compilers?

I've created an user voice for this idea. It's currently waiting for approval. You should be able to vote for it later here:
https://uservoice.ranorex.com/forums/15 ... port-in-ch
Pavel Kudrys
Ranorex explorer at Descartes Systems

Please add these details to your questions:
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  • Ranorex xPath of problematic element(s)
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  • OS version
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boegvald
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Re: Test reports to non-ranorex users, how?

Post by boegvald » Thu Sep 19, 2019 12:02 pm

Thanks much, Pavel. I'll gladly vote for it.

If I decide to get the viewer installed for a bunch of people, do you know if it will trigger a license when used?

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Bo
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Bo

boegvald
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Re: Test reports to non-ranorex users, how?

Post by boegvald » Tue Sep 24, 2019 7:50 am

Stub wrote:
Thu Sep 19, 2019 8:37 am
In the end I decided if they couldn't be bothered installing Ranorex they probably wouldn't bother going and finding an archive containing just the viewer, or unpacking and renaming the files in the .rxzlog archive. So, PDFs. I doubt anybody here looks at those either however!
:D

Probably, I could convince people to install Ranorex. But I can't imagine the consequences of a lot of people not directly involved in doing Ranorex tests suddenly having the entire Ranorex suite installed, not at least the consequences on our pool of licenses...!
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Bo

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Re: Test reports to non-ranorex users, how?

Post by Support Team » Tue Sep 24, 2019 8:41 am

Hello,

There's actually a standalone Ranorex.ReportViewer available here: https://upload.ranorex.com/s/pA5T9L2iqREXaNp

No installation of Ranorex required, nor any licenses leased.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,
Robert

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odklizec
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Re: Test reports to non-ranorex users, how?

Post by odklizec » Tue Sep 24, 2019 9:03 am

Hi Robert,

Thanks for the useful info and link! I think it would be good to promote the standalone viewer a bit ;)
Pavel Kudrys
Ranorex explorer at Descartes Systems

Please add these details to your questions:
  • Ranorex Snapshot. Learn how to create one >here<
  • Ranorex xPath of problematic element(s)
  • Ranorex version
  • OS version
  • HW configuration

boegvald
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Re: Test reports to non-ranorex users, how?

Post by boegvald » Tue Sep 24, 2019 9:06 am

What a hidden gem! Thanks much, Robert.
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Bo

ancleg
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Re: Test reports to non-ranorex users, how?

Post by ancleg » Wed Nov 13, 2019 5:17 pm

Support Team wrote:
Tue Sep 24, 2019 8:41 am
Hello,

There's actually a standalone Ranorex.ReportViewer available here: https://upload.ranorex.com/s/pA5T9L2iqREXaNp

No installation of Ranorex required, nor any licenses leased.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,
Robert
Is this future-proof (I assume not), and if not, how would we locate a version for new releases?

Great to have this officially available.

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Re: Test reports to non-ranorex users, how?

Post by Support Team » Thu Nov 14, 2019 9:02 pm

@ancleg, as long as there are no major changes to the reporting structure, this should continue to work. As far as I know, the reporting structure has remained that same for a very long time (since before Ranorex 5). If we have enough request for this tool, we may release an official version. It really is quite simple of a tool, all it does is unzip the report file (if a rxzlog file), then display it in a IE window. The difference with this and the official report viewer is that it is not tied into all of the other Ranorex libraries.

Cheers,
Ned

andy.simpson
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Re: Test reports to non-ranorex users, how?

Post by andy.simpson » Fri Nov 15, 2019 10:11 am

Voted for this, I think it would be a massive improvement to be able to distribute an HTML version of the reports, I don't find the pdf's are received well when being sent out for being too bulky

antris
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Re: Test reports to non-ranorex users, how?

Post by antris » Fri Mar 06, 2020 12:58 pm

Support Team wrote:
Tue Sep 24, 2019 8:41 am
Hello,

There's actually a standalone Ranorex.ReportViewer available here: https://upload.ranorex.com/s/pA5T9L2iqREXaNp

No installation of Ranorex required, nor any licenses leased.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,
Robert
Hi, could you reupload the file. The link is not working anymore.

Regards, Antti.

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Re: Test reports to non-ranorex users, how?

Post by Support Team » Mon Mar 09, 2020 2:38 pm

Hi Antti,

Here you go: https://upload.ranorex.com/s/pA5T9L2iqREXaNp

Regards,
Ned